1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a water shutoff system for automatically shutting off a water system when undesired flow occurs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many householders commonly practice the shutting off of the water system when they are leaving their house for a protracted period. However, shutting off the main supply valve is troublesome because of the time involved in the usual inconvenient location of the valve and the usual difficulty in operating the valve. Therefore, few householders perform this chore. The purpose of the chore is to prevent damage should a leak occur while the householder is away. Such damage might be caused by rupture of a frozen pipe, leakage of a hot water heater, water pipe breakage caused by earthquake and the like.
Prior efforts have been made to close a line in response to a break therein. For example, Samain, U.S. Pat. No. 1,466,412 shows a break response valve which is operated by a pendulum sensor. Thomason, U.S. Pat. No. 2,160,766 and Diescher, U.S. Pat. No. 1,956,010, show other mechanically operating break response valves.
Riney, U.S. Pat. No. 2,012,351, shows a gravity closed valve which is released by an electric signal corresponding to excess flow. This and other related prior art does not show structure which meets the present day needs.